Revision as of 01:16, 7 March 2013

When hitchhiking it is good to know at least a few phrases of the language of the place where you are, or of your potential drivers. See Tips for hitchhiking for more about hitchhiking in general, and List of phrasebooks for more extensive vocabularies. Here are seven key phrases which will come in handy:

Dutch

Northern Europe

Don't bother to try asking in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish. Almost all local people speak English, and will be confused when you try to speak their language - and if you do speak it at a reasonable level, you won't need this phrasebook.

Eastern Europe

Russian is probably the most important language to learn, many older people speak or at least understand Russian, especially when their mother tongue is a Slavic language. A lot of young people understand at least a bit of English (of course more in the (big) cities than in the countryside). German could also be very useful (it is (was?) very used for the commercial exchanges).

Russian

Zdrastvuite!

Vy edete do ...?

Mozhno poyehat' s vami?

Mozhete vysadit' menya na avtozapravke?

Mozhno ya vyidu tut?

Spasibo, shto podvezli!

Vostok, Zapad, Sever, Jug

Central Europe

Czech

Dobrý den,

Jedete do ...?

Můžu se svést s vámi?

Můžete mně vysadit na benzínové pumpě?

Můžu vystoupit tady?

Díky za svezení.

Východ, západ, sever, jih

Hungarian

Jó napot kívánok!

Nem ... felé megy véletlenül?

Elmehetnék önnel?

Ki tudna tenni az autópálya melletti benzinkútnál?

Kiszállhatnék most?

Köszönöm a fuvart!

kelet, nyugat, észak, dél

Polish

Dzień dobry!

Czy jedzie pan/pani do...

Mogę się zabrać?

Może mnie pan/pani wyrzucić koło stacji benzynowej?

Mogę tutaj wysiąść?

Dzięki za podwiezienie!

Wschód, zachód, północ, południe

Slovak

Dobrý den!

Idete do ...?

Môžem ísť s vami?

Môžete ma vysadiť na benzínovej pumpe?

Môžem tu vystúpiť?

Ďakujem za zvezenie.

Východ, západ, sever, juh

South-Eastern Europe

Slovenian

Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian

(Croatian)

Zdravo! (or Bok!)

Vozite li možda prema ...?

Mogu li se povesti s vama?

Možete li me ostaviti na odmaralištu?

Mogu li ovdje izaći?

Hvala na vožnji!

Istok, Zapad, Sjever, Jug

Bulgarian

Zdraveite!

Otivate li do ...?

Moga li da patuvam s vas?

Shte me ostavite li na purvata benzinostancia (= would you drop me off at a first gasstation?)

Persian

Salam

Dastetoon dard nakoneh

roozetoon bekheir

komak!

khoda negahdar

Thai

Vietnamese

Korean

Hebrew

While driving with young people, using English is more advisable and understood widely. Russian or Romanian is widely spoken as well. On main inter-city roads there are special stops for hitchhikers, designed for soldiers to hitchhike easily (until the government forbade soldiers from hitchhiking, for safety reasons); use them if possible.